Level 1

20 points

HEIC Issue

I returned from a holiday to Europe to find that some of my images were in the new HEIC format around 900 images. I have the latest Mojave and iPhone 8 iOS systems installed and went about my usual business of importing the images into Photos and then auto deleting them from the phone when complete.

Everything went as planed and the images and few videos look fine when viewed within the Photos app however I typically like to export some of my images from trips and add them to Lightroom so I just export the unaltered originals and then import to Lightroom

The issue I'm having is that the HEIC images when exported are corrupted. The show green pixel boxes either on the lower half or in some cases the side of the exported images.

I decided to try to convert the images to JPG and the result was the same except the pixel corruption shows up a purple instead of green. I have the images as proof and would be happy to send them along with screen shots if you like. I have posted a couple here.

I need to know what the issue is and the fix or that a fix is on the way ASAP.

Thanks

Above is the image in Photos

Above is the exported JPG

Above is a screenshot of the exported HEIC as this forum would not allow the actual .HEIC image to be added to this message.

Clearly there is an issue with HEIC.

iPhone 8, macOS Mojave (10.14), Latest iTunes and iPhone updates.

Posted on Oct 11, 2018 4:56 PM

Top-ranking reply

Digita1one Author

Level 1

20 points

Posted on Oct 12, 2018 12:37 PM

This .heic just keeps getting more and more confusing. So here are the results of my tests.

Airdrop: HEIC image is converted during the airdrop process to a .jpg with no issues with the image. Tried multiple HEIC images to confirm.

USB: changed port from my USB hub to direct connect to the back of my iMac results as follows. Export unmodified original for 1 photo....same results HEIC is corrupted along the bottom of the image as shown in the my original post screen shot above. Export 1 Photo option to jpeg and the image shows corruption same as before.

USB: Swapped cables with the same results as above.

Also tried the old drag and drop from the Photos App to desktop with the same results. The HEIC is converted to a .jpeg before it hits the Desktop and the corruption is visible. All be it not green.

So conclusion. AirDrop seems to work but there is obviously issues with both the HEIC format and the interaction between Photos and the new HEIC format that needs to be fixed with an update.

Until then I will be reverting back to the "Most Compatible" setting in the camera on my iPhone.

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57 replies

Digita1one Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 13, 2018 11:54 AM in response to Rohirm

Nope with the Ticket will be doing that today. Thanks for the feedback.

Digita1one Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 13, 2018 11:57 AM in response to Rohirm

You'd better look closely at the images as some of my converted images look ok until you zoom in only to find that the pattern is still there just faint.

Digita1one Author

Level 1

20 points

Nov 6, 2018 9:09 PM in response to cofod

Your welcome. Hope they get it fixed in a future update, assuming they have been following this thread.

Cheers.

Digita1one Author

Level 1

20 points

Nov 12, 2018 4:35 PM in response to jtnoonan90

Hey that's great. Thanks for the update and glad that this will be fixed soon.

Cheers.

P.S. Apple if you like to offer a reward for us finding this issue I'm sure we would all be very happy. ;-).

Nov 13, 2018 7:49 AM in response to léonie

No, the latest update does not fix the issue. Perhaps in 10.14.2, but the person I spoke to didn't commit to that. Fingers crossed!

léonie

Level 10

200,531 points

Nov 13, 2018 8:49 AM in response to jtnoonan90

Thank you. That is a pity.

Nov 13, 2018 12:30 PM in response to lec0rsaire

I have followed this thread as it is vital Apple repairs.

Digita1one Author

Level 1

20 points

Nov 13, 2018 12:43 PM in response to lec0rsaire

Most welcome. Hopefully it gets fixed in 10.14.2 as airics900 has indicated below or above.

Nov 13, 2018 11:38 AM in response to Digita1one

There are really big problems with HEIC/HEIF with macOS Mojave and iOS 11 or 12. For example, no matter what I do having a top of the line 2016 15"MacBook Pro and a 7 Plus, I cannot import HEIC Live Photos over AirDrop for the life of me! I never had trouble with this in Sierra or High Sierra! I only get the still photo. If I select most compatible I will still just AirDrop the still HEIC.

If I e-mail myself the photo, I get a still JPEG on both Automatic and Most Compatible. Only when I send myself the photos through iMessage do I get the Live versions! BUT they are not HEICs like they're supposed to be. I only get live JPEGs! Now if the live JPEG is in Photos on Mac and I export it, it will separate the still photo and the quicktime MOV file.

If I am frustrated and I am a power user who knows what he's doing and how to troubleshoot nearly everything, I can only imagine how frustrated regular users who don't know how to find workarounds themselves must feel!

Nov 13, 2018 1:20 PM in response to flatout23

I just tried something else and guess what? The problem is that in order to get the original HEIC Live Photo imported with AirDrop the notification prompt must show up and you must select Open in Photos from the drop down button.

Now the problem is that if you're sending it from your phone that is signed into the same iCloud account as your Mac (and why wouldn't it be?!!) then AirDrop will just send the photos straight to your downloads folder. What I did was send them to my girlfriend's phone with AirDrop first. Then when AirDropping from her phone I got the prompt and was able to import the original HEIC Live Photos.

So unfortunately if you send from your iPhone to your Mac, the best you can do is live JPEG through iMessage. If you send from another person's phone then you get the original file.

Apple should reinstate the AirDrop prompt regardless of whether files are being transferred from and to the same iCloud account or between different ones.

Acetm

Level 1

4 points

Dec 26, 2018 3:57 AM in response to Digita1one

I've just notied this problem, glad that is not unique.

Only 2 photos were problematic, after deleted all from Phone, Computer and iCloud, then restored from Time Machine backup, more photos were affected...nice...

However, I've found out, that if I press Edit on a Mac for these pictures (do nothing else), the photos error disappears.

Hope there will be a fix soon...

Dec 10, 2018 12:34 PM in response to Digita1one

Same issue here with iPhone Xs and iMac 27" with Mojave.

Very frustrating to realize this on my exports after exporting many images the other day.

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HEIC Issue